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Key Note Speakers
Computers: can we trust them?
Do you remember the computer apocalypse predicted for the start of the new millennium? Or that Thomas Nicely discovered - by accident - that the Pentium chip had a fault in its division algorithm?
Computers and calculators take on an ever increasing role in the way we teach, use and think about mathematics. We take them on trust and blindly believe the answers they give.
John Silvester shows in this exciting lecture how wrong that can be:
• an arithmetic calculation that goes horribly wrong;
• a monstrous computer algebra proof of a very pretty piece of geometry that turns out to have an easy proof that doesn't require a computer at all;
and how right it can be:
• in exploring and discovering hidden properties of circles and triangles. |
Dr John Silvester spent the middle year of his PhD in America - sailing both ways on the original Queen Elizabeth. He is still in his first job, at King's College London and in the courses he presents, John makes considerable use of computers through dynamic geometry, spreadsheets and computer algebra packages.
His escape is to give lectures on mathematics that non-mathematicians can engage with, and to write on mathematics at all levels.
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The Music of the Primes
Why did Beckham choose the number 23 shirt? How is 17 the key to the evolutionary survival of a strange species of cicada?
Prime numbers are the atoms of arithmetic - the hydrogen and oxygen of the world of numbers. Despite their fundamental importance to mathematics, they represent one of the most tantalising enigmas in the pursuit of human knowledge.
In 1859, the German mathematician Bernhard Riemann put forward an idea - a hypothesis - that seemed to reveal a magical harmony at work in the numerical landscape. A million dollars now awaits the person who can unravel the mystery of the hidden music that might explain the cacophony of the primes.
Marcus du Sautoy takes us on an exhilarating journey across the mathematical oceans that are still not mapped or conquered
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Marcus du Sautoy is Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of All Souls College; he is currently a Research Fellow at the Royal Society.
He is also the author of the best-selling popular mathematics book "The Music of the Primes" which has been translated into 9 languages. He writes for the Times, Daily Telegraph and the Guardian. He recently presented his own series "5 Shapes" on Radio 4. |
After Dinner Speaker
Toni Beardon OBE
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Toni Beardon was the first Director of NRICH and other projects that are now part of the Millennium Mathematics Project. NRICH is an
online mathematical club which extends opportunities for enrichment and extra-curricular mathematics to the widest possible group of
young people. After a lifetime of teaching in comprehensive schools and universities, where her interests include peer assisted learning
and the impact of communication technology on learning and teaching school mathematics, Toni is now setting up programmes in South Africa
to support mathematics learning and teaching in historically disadvantaged communities. For her work in mathematics education she
was awarded the O.B.E. in 2003.
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Sailing through Primary
Lynne McClure
In her address, Lynne will share her recordings of primary children's thoughts about their daily mathematics lessons. How smooth is their voyage of mathematical discovery? Are they actively engaged in mapping out their course or are they embarking on a mystery cruise with destination a well kept secret? Are they waving in wonder, awash with assessment, or desperate to disembark? And why does it matter?
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Lynne McClure has taught in primary and secondary schools, in further and higher education, and both here and abroad. She now works with universities, LEAs and individual schools as well as consulting to many different organisations, including Teachers' TV and the BBC Digital Curriculum. Her passion is mathematics and she enjoys working with pupils and their teachers, and trainee teachers, in making sense of the national strategies and looking for ways in which the curriculum can be made more enjoyable and challenging, especially for able pupils. She edits the Primary Mathematics journal for the M.A and the Maths Coordinator File for pfp, and her most recent primary publication for the M.A. is 'Raising the profile - whole school maths activities' and for Fulton a secondary text, 'Meeting the needs of your most able students in maths'. |
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